Loveland is gung ho for yo-yos (video, slideshow)

Patrick Canny gave his second yo-yo workshop this month to more than 90 people

By Shelley Widhalm Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
12/29/2012 07:51:53 PM MST

Sixteen-year-old Patrick Canny, left, performs a yo-yo trick during a demonstration and workshop about the hobby on Saturday at the Loveland Public Library. Canny is a sophomore at Thompson Valley High School and has been yo-yoing for about 3 1/2 years.
(
Steve Stoner
)

Sixteen-year-old Patrick Canny smiled, shrugged and stepped in time to the speedy movement of a bright green yo-yo string.

The Fort Collins boy started the three-minute demonstration of his yo-yoing hobby Saturday by walking the dog, meaning he kept his yo-yo steadily rolling along the floor. He whipped the yo-yo up for the trapeze, landing it on the string, following with a host of tricks around his sleeve, pants legs, shoulders and knees.

"It's cool getting to share your tricks with other people," said Canny, a sophomore at Thompson Valley High School, who also plays sports and the cello in orchestra and participates in robotics. "Almost every trick I showed you today I made up."

Canny gave his second yo-yo demonstration and workshop this month in the children's department at the Loveland Public Library to a packed room of more than 90 people.

"It's important to expose kids to all different hobbies," said Cindi Pfeiffer, children's librarian, adding that 35 people attended Patrick's first demonstration Dec. 5. "They may have a talent they didn't know unless they saw something like that."

Canny started yo-yoing 3 1/2 years ago when his father, Bob Canny, showed him a couple of tricks. He learned them, plus dozens more watching YouTube videos.

Like other yo-yoing hobbyists, Canny developed his own style and started making up tricks and trick combinations, or a series of tricks. But he cannot tell you the number of tricks he has in his repertoire, because he's always trying and experimenting with his love of the string.

Canny, a member of the Northern Colorado Yo-Yo Club, practices 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours a day, unless he's preparing for a contest with two to three hours of daily yo-yoing. So far, he's entered a half-dozen youth contests and competed once at the national level, placing ninth.

"It's like one of my dreams to become a top competitor nationally," Canny said. "It's always a way for me to have fun."

Yo-yo contests require performances that are one or three minutes choreographed to music.

"You're judged by how difficult the trick is and how you completed it," Canny said, adding that technical execution, originality and performance also are considered.

Canny, who has 10 to 15 yo-yos, described the characteristics of his different yo-yos.

They are made of metal, plastic or a combination of both and have flared sides to catch the string.

One of his yo-yos, called the Chief, is made of metal and "can play quickly and lightly," he said.

Yo-yos range in price from $2 to $200, Canny said, recommending the Classic, a $10 plastic yo-yo, for beginners.

"I can still do pretty much all of my tricks," he said. "It's very versatile."

Yo-yoing is something he can do anywhere, he said.

"It's fun to see him smile as he interacts with kids," Bob Canny said.

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